May 4, 2008

Making More Music: “Microfinance” and Struggling Artists?

As long as people have a sense of hearing, there will always be a market for music. Sounds get ranked, and musicians are sensitive to those distinctions. So, what does microfinance have to do with have to do with music? In the footsteps of Kiva, calabash.com advertises the option to “microfinance” struggling musicians around the world with its“tune your world” campaign.
Calabash is a self-described fair trade music company that increases sales and exposure for developing world artists. It collaborates with international music producers and music journalists to sniff out talent, and has even been picked up by National Geographic as a source for National Geographic’s worldmusic store. Hidden in the wording though, is somewhat of a twist. Calabash has set up a person-to-person model via PayPal, but it really can’t be described as microcredit. The “microfinancing” leans towards “microfunding,” another term it mixes into its descriptions. If a fan makes a minimum sponsorship fee of $25 towards a specifically defined artist project, he’ll receive news and be able to download advance copies of recordings. It’s a playful use of the term “microfinance”, but can be initially confusing. The sponsorships really fall into the donation category.
But so it goes. When a phrase or term, like microfinance, picks up in popularity it gets tossed into new contexts and its meaning bends. Sites like Calabash are probably attracted to its good reputation, and try to tap into that by spinning the term into its pitches. For confusion’s sake, let’s hope we maintain an anchor and that microfinance doesn’t evolve too quickly.

Related

There has been a food crisis brewing. The U.S.’s Farm belt has been on the comfortable end of an ample 40% rise in commodity prices since October, but those hefty profits have naturally translated into significant losses for consumers. A UN representative recently suggested that this persistent upsurge in food prices be considered a “silent tsunami,” crushing developing countries’ consumers especially. Until policy intervenes, it seems, these prices and this tsunami will keep swelling.

Last Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bill Gates pushed for a shift towards creative capitalism. The term asks for the use of market forces in bridging the broadening rift between the world’s best off and worst off, and may someday dream of a glorious rise in the buzzword ranks.